


We'll Always Have Camelot

by misura



Category: Deathstalker Series - Simon R. Green
Genre: Multi, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-21
Updated: 2013-02-21
Packaged: 2017-12-08 00:29:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/754863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>With all the rebuilding and cleaning up that was ahead of them (most which needed to be done yesterday, if not the day before that) Douglas had honestly believed Parliament would be giving the whole Royal Wedding idea a rest.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	We'll Always Have Camelot

Of the three of them, Douglas thought, Jesamine had been the one to change the most.

When he'd first met her, she'd been a star - with all the good and bad qualities that implied. Used to getting things her way, because of who she was. Beautiful, charming and more intelligent than people usually gave her credit for.

Now, she was a hero. Still used to getting things her way. Still beautiful, but a little less charming, and no longer quite so easy to underestimate.

Still the only woman he would ever love.

(He'd subscribed to her official fanclub - anonymously, of course. He didn't think Lewis and Jesamine wouldn't understand, if they ever found out. He knew that they would - and he didn't want that. It would only hurt them. After all he'd put them through, Douglas felt it was the least he could do.)

(Plus, of course, the premium membership came with access to all the best pictures and exclusive interviews.)

 

With all the rebuilding and cleaning up that was ahead of them (most which needed to be done yesterday, if not the day before that) Douglas had honestly believed Parliament would be giving the whole Royal Wedding idea a rest.

It had taken the better part of a year to put together a Parliament again. They convened in a theater, because the old building still hadn't been cleaned quite thoroughly enough to get rid of all the suspicious stains and unpleasant smells.

Staring out across the group of men and women who were to guide the Empire, Douglas had allowed himself to feel hope. To feel he was getting somewhere, that he had accomplished something good here, today.

He probably should have known it wasn't going to last.

"I'm giving serious consideration to taking a very public and extremely binding oath of chastity." All things considered, it wouldn't be much of a sacrifice.

Not that Douglas would ever actually go through with it, of course. He was the last direct descendant of Robert and Constance; it was his duty to see to it there would be someone to rule after him. Preferably several someones, just in case. Accidents did happen, after all.

"You knew this was coming." Lewis looked only slightly sympathetic.

Jesamine didn't even bother with that much. Once, she'd have gone through the motions, because it was what people expected of her, and because it was important to preserve a sympathetic public image. Now, she simply smiled, her expression more amused than anything else.

"No, I bloody well didn't." Douglas slumped in his chair. "Haven't we got more important concerns than who my bride is finally going to be? Because I'm fairly sure we've got a civilization to rebuild."

"At least they're letting you pick this time," Lewis said, and Douglas managed not to wince, because the only woman he would willingly choose to marry was the one woman who was never going to accept his proposal, because she already was in love with his best friend. (Well, Rose probably wouldn't say yes, either. Douglas couldn't imagine anyone wanting to marry Rose, though - except Brett, apparently.)

"They're letting me come up with the names," Douglas agreed. "Mostly because they're either too lazy to do the research themselves, or because they haven't got anyone on their staff yet who's held his position long enough for a bribe."

"Do try not to sound like too much of a jaded cynic, darling," Jesamine said. "Very few women find that sort of thing attractive. Unless you want Parliament to completely run your life, you're going to have to work at being a bit more charming. Optimistic. Ready to deal with whatever tomorrow might bring."

"You've got an idea?" Douglas asked, half-hopeful and half ... something else. Something he was never going to talk about, because it wouldn't do any good.

Jesamine shrugged. "I used to know everyone who was anyone. I may not quite be the queen of showbiz anymore I once was, but I'm sure that if we put our heads together, we should be able to find someone for you who won't make you miserable."

"Or try to kill you first chance they get," Lewis added dryly.

Douglas had told them all about Treasure, aka Frankie. He hadn't felt he had any other choice, after all the attention the whole affair had gotten in the media. "Yes. That would be nice."

"So, no killers." Jesamine smiled. "Any other criteria?"

 _I want her to look like you,_ Douglas thought, but didn't say. _I want her to talk like you._

 _I want her to_ be _you._

"Nothing springs to mind, really," he said. "Someone you think will be good for the job."

Jesamine frowned a little. "That's - well, I can work with that."

Lewis was frowning as well. Douglas knew they only had his best interests at heart and wanted to see him as happy as they were themselves. It wasn't their fault that that was impossible.

 

Douglas met the first of Jesamine's hopeful candidates for dinner at a recently reopened restaurant. He strongly suspected the place had been both rebuilt and redecorated, but that wasn't really important.

The food was quite good, considering they were still working on getting the economy going again. Several cuts above protein cubes, which seemed to be the one food item they never seemed to run short of.

The company was ... passable, he supposed. There were a few times when he felt she laughed too loudly, or tried too hard to convince him of how smart she was, but he didn't actively dislike her.

 

"So when are you and Jes going to tie the knot?" Douglas asked, proud of the way his voice stayed perfectly even, like he was just a guy teasing another guy about his girlfriend.

Lewis shrugged. It was quite unfair, Douglas reflected; nobody seemed to care at all about whether or not _Lewis_ was going to be getting married. Lewis was a hero, and a Deathstalker (the very last one), and his lady was one of the biggest stars of the Empire.

"She said we should wait for a bit."

Douglas considered. "For what?" True, he was working both of them pretty hard. He needed them. The Empire needed them. Still, if they wanted to take a break for a honeymoon, Douglas would be the last person to object. They'd more than deserved one.

Lewis shrugged again. _Women,_ that shrug said. _Who can tell why they do or say anything?_ "She didn't say."

Maybe she wanted a double wedding: her and Lewis, and Douglas and ... whoever he'd settle on.

 

Two months passed, and Douglas wined and dined a grand total of fourteen very lovely ladies. He didn't actively dislike any of them (except maybe for the seventh one, who had some rather ... disturbing ideas about espers) but none of them made a particular impression, either.

"Just pick one," he told Jesamine. "I don't care."

"That's undoubtedly the most idiotic thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth, darling. Of course you care. We're talking about a wife here, not a secretary."

Douglas sighed. "I guess I'm simply not the kind of guy who falls in love at first sight." It had only happened that one time - and given where it had gotten him, Douglas wasn't sure if he shouldn't be grateful for that.

"Nonsense," Jesamne said determinedly. "You just haven't met the right one yet."

"I'm a busy man," Douglas protested. "I have other duties."

"One more, then," Jesamine said. "One more candidate I want you to consider. After that, you can pick who you like - at random, if that's how you want it."

"All right." Douglas thought it might actually come to that. Leave it to fate, so that at least he wouldn't have only himself to blame when things didn't work out. "One more date."

 

It was Lewis.

No Jesamine - who Douglas half expected to see as well, once he'd worked out that, clearly, tonight's candidate had canceled at the last moment, leading to Jesamine deciding that it would be a shame to let the reservation go to waste and changing the date into something a bit more friendly and relaxed.

"You can't imagine how relieved I am to see you," Douglas said cheerfully. He could only hope the cancellation was permanent.

"Hello, Douglas." Lewis, strangely enough, looked anything but at ease. Any kind of crisis, Douglas would have been told about already - bad news rarely waited for dinnertime. Something personal, then.

"Is everything all right with you and Jesamine?"

Lewis nodded jerkily. "Fine. We're ... fine."

Douglas decided to switch tactics. "Have you ever eaten here before? Their specials are really something - although some of them are a bit too spicy for my taste, I must confess." He smiled at Lewis, and Lewis smiled back.

"Sounds like a challenge."

"Trust me," Douglas said dryly, "it really wasn't intended as one."

"I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to try and impress you," Lewis said. "It's what guys do, with their dates."

Douglas chuckled. "In that case, aren't I supposed to be trying to impress you, too?"

"Probably," Lewis said, with a half-grin that made his face look almost handsome.

"Why don't we both agree that we're very impressed with each other and then order something that's just going to taste good without burning out our taste buds?"

"Works for me."

 

It had really been far too long since he and Lewis had spent some downtime together, Douglas reflected, one very fine dinner and several quite handsome bottles of wine later. These days, they always seemed to be working - and there was a lot of work to be done, of course.

Still, it was important to unwind a bit, too, every now and then.

"We should do this again, some day," he told Lewis. "Soon." Given their workloads, that probably meant 'next month, or the month after that', but even so.

"I could bring Jes, next time," Lewis said, swirling the last bit of wine in his glass before knocking it back.

"You could do that." Douglas wasn't sure how he felt about that. He always needed to be so very careful around Jesamine; he wouldn't be able to relax at all, for fear of betraying his true feelings.

"I know you're still in love with her," Lewis said, and for a moment, Douglas thought he'd misheard. He'd been worrying about Lewis or Jesamine finding out, and he'd had a few drinks - it wasn't all that inconceivable he'd start to hear things that weren't real.

The expression on Lewis's face told him Lewis had said exactly what Douglas thought he'd said, though.

Douglas felt his heart constrict painfully in his chest. Against his common sense, he realized that part of him had always hoped that if his secret ever came out, it wouldn't matter. That it wouldn't change things. "I ... " He could still deny it, of course. "Yes. I am."

He could have lied, but Lewis, as his best friend, deserved the truth. Even if it hurt them both.

Lewis nodded, once. "And you need an heir."

"Yes," Douglas said, even though he didn't see how that made any difference.

"You could still marry her," Lewis said. "Or me, but people might be less enthusiastic about that."

Douglas stared at him. He thought he might be gaping.

"Her idea," Lewis said. "And I'd be lying if I claimed to be entirely comfortable with it, but hell, Douglas, what's the alternative? You marrying someone you don't even like, and then spending the rest of your life pining? You think I'd want that, for my best friend? And it wouldn't exactly be fair to your Queen either, would it?"

"You - you'd do that?" Douglas didn't think he could have done the same, in Lewis's place. He liked to think he'd have been willing to offer, but deep down inside, he knew that in the end, he wouldn't have been able to bring himself to go through with it.

Lewis scowled. "It's an offer to share, Campbell. Made on behalf of the lady herself. No more, no less. Don't think I'm stepping down, or letting you hog her time under the pretense of some sort of committee meeting. You try to take advantage, I'm kicking your ass."

"I'd like to see you try," Douglas said, more or less automatically.

"No, you wouldn't," Lewis said.

 

In the end, they decided to hold the ceremony outside, just because there weren't any buildings large enough to contain all of the expected guests. Lewis claimed the rain was going to spoil everything ( _Deathstalker luck, always bad_ ) but the air remained clear and blue the entire three hours, and nobody even tried to kill anyone.

The media had flocked to the event, of course. Douglas had asked Brett and Rose to put in a personal appearance to make sure they all behaved, and by some miracle, in a stunning display of common sense, they mostly did, asking all the right questions and none of the wrong ones.

All in all, it was a perfect wedding. The coronation, which followed after, went swimmingly as well, and a lot more quickly, and then, finally, it was all over and done with, and Douglas started breathing again.

King Lewis and Queen Jesamine waved to the crowd, and the crowd cheered them until their throats were raw. And Douglas sat down on the throne most to the left, the one that had traditionally been saved for blessed Owen when he returned, and decided that all might yet be very well.

At the very least, he knew he'd given it his very best shot.


End file.
